Top U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Articles see all

SACRAMENTO -- With ethics scandals rocking the Capitol, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday appointed as the new head of California’s ethics watchdog agency a judge who has overseen the discipline of attorneys.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday appointed as head of California's political ethics agency a judge who has overseen the discipline of attorneys.
Jodi Remke, presiding judge of the State Bar Court of California, is Brown's choice for...

SACRAMENTO — Senate Republican leader Robert Huff of Diamond Bar said Thursday he has introduced a resolution calling for the immediate suspension of Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) a day after Yee was arrested by the FBI on public corruption...

SACRAMENTO -- State Senate Democrats on Monday blocked two resolutions that would have suspended Sens. Ronald Calderon and Roderick Wright, who have taken voluntary leaves of absences pending the outcome of criminal charges they are facing.
Senate...

The state Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday approved three measures aimed at improving ethics in the scandal-plagued upper house, including the creation of an ombudsman to receive allegations of misconduct and a blackout on campaign fundraising during...

Related U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Articles see all

TALLAHASSEE -- A committee looking for a new president for Florida State University will now cast a net that extends beyond powerful state Sen. John Thrasher.
Ed Burr, chairman of the FSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee, said an outpouring of interest in the position led to the decision to delay the conversation with Thrasher, which was scheduled for June 11. The St. Augustine Republican and rabid FSU alumnus has been considered the front-runner for the position, particularly after the...

Mike Gatto is a clever fellow. But like a lot of smart guys, he's sometimes too clever for his own good.
A case in point came a week ago when the AIDS Healthcare Foundation denounced the assemblyman as "a pornographer's best friend" for blocking consideration of a bill that would require the use of condoms in all adult film production in California, a requirement approved by Los Angeles County voters last year.
The group's president, Michael Weinstein, accused Gatto during a teleconference of "single-...

A critic of the region's air-quality agency is questioning the academic credentials of a board member empowered to vote on the fate of the fire rings in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.
Clark E. Parker, who sits on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board, lists two doctorates in his online biography on the agency website. Parker, who was appointed in June by the state Senate Rules Committee, is referred to as "Dr. Parker" throughout the document.
But the listed doctorates are from so-...

U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Photos

SACRAMENTO — Irwin Nowick enters the stately Capitol building wearing a frayed T-shirt and carpenter jeans, a flip phone hanging from a belt holster and a manila envelope stuffed with legislation and legal documents in his hands. His dark eyes are rimmed with creases, earned from long hours hunched over a computer keyboard.
The Legislature is scheduled to vet hundreds of bills and resolutions before the session ends, and it's Nowick's job to catch mistakes before they become law.
Nowick begins...

SACRAMENTO -- Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) recommended Tuesday that Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) be replaced as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and observers say it appears part of a political squabble between the two over the race for Evans’ district.
Steinberg’s recommendation that Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) replace Evans as chairwoman will be considered Wednesday by the Senate Rules Committee, of which Steinberg is chairman,...

SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate’s Committee on Legislative Ethics is scheduled Thursday to meet for the first time in two decades, as the panel prepares to look into allegations of misconduct by a sitting lawmaker— Democratic Sen. Ronald S. Calderon of Montebello.
The six-member panel is scheduled to convene in closed session for what is billed as an “organizational meeting” that includes a briefing on the hiring of a special counsel to review Calderon’s case and determine...